Two Domari legends about the origin of the Doms · Two Domari legends about the origin of the Doms...

Offprint from: Romani Studies, 5th series, 10: 53-79. 2000.

Two Domari legends about the origin of the Doms Yaron Matras Background The Doms belong to the populations known collectively in the literature as ‘Middle Eastern Gypsies’.1 Their own term for their group is dōm, in

the plural dōme. The Arabs usually call them nawar or, more pejora-

tively, zuṭṭ. The latter has been in use since medieval times as a collec-

tive name for various groups of Indian immigrants to the Middle East, including nomadic musicians, soldiers, and captives (see Grierson 1887); it is often associated with the Indian name jat, which in turn can be found as the self-designation of itinerant populations of Indian origin in Afghanistan (Rao 1995) and elsewhere. Dom populations whose lan-guage is a variety of Domari are known to exist or to have existed in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, and Azerbaijan, referring to themselves as either dom, duman, kurbeti, or karači. The term dom is a cognate to rom (used by Romani-speaking populations in Europe), and lom (attested in the Indic-derived vocabulary of the itinerant Poša of

1 An overview of the literature is attempted in Kenrick (1975-1979), though the title ‘Romanies …’ is

somewhat misleading there.

2 Yaron Matras

Armenia; Finck 1907), as well as to the Indian caste-name ḍom, from

which the terms appear to derive. The Doms have traditionally specialised in metalwork and in enter-tainment. Among the Palestinian Doms, however, these two professions are usually associated with different clans. The ancestors of the Jerusa-lem Doms were, until several decades ago, tent-dwelling smiths and tin-ners who produced skewers, horseshoes, and other metal artefacts. Gradually, the men abandoned their traditional profession and sought paid employment in various services. Since the 1940s, many have been employed by the municipality’s environmental health department. Beg-ging was practised by many women in the community until shortly after the Israeli occupation in 1967, when a system of social services and benefits was introduced. The Jerusalem Doms now distance themselves from the begging activities of other Doms, who are not residents of the city, but arrive as tourists, mainly from Egypt and Jordan, during the Muslim holiday seasons, and can be met begging in and around the Old City of Jerusalem. The young generation of Jerusalem Doms is em-ployed in a variety of professions, mainly in services. A significant number have completed secondary education, some continuing to higher specialised qualifications. In many respects the Doms are part of Palestinian-Arab society: They have lived among the Arabs for many centuries, they share customs, family organisation structures, and religious beliefs with mainstream Muslim Arabs, and they have lived since the 1940s in the Muslim Quar-ter of the Old City and more recently also in the neighbourhoods and suburbs of Arab East Jerusalem. Arabic now serves as the principal lan-guage of the community and is the only language spoken by the younger generation of Doms. As in rural Arab society, the traditional authority rests with the Mukhtar (Arabic muxtār), or community leader, whom the Doms refer to in their language as grawara. The position of Mukhtar is a kind of compromise between an elected representative whose appoint-ment reflects a consensus among the influential families and members of the community, a hereditary office, and an external appointment by the

Two Domari legends 3

authorities, who recognise the Mukhtar as a spokesman on behalf of his community, but expect cooperation, for instance in matters relating to law and order, in return. The traditional tasks of the Mukhtar have been to resolve conflicts and disputes within the community, and to mediate between members of the community and the authorities. The Mukhtar’s role as chief representative of the community is at pre-sent being challenged to some extent by the establishment in November 1999 of a ‘Foundation for the Promotion of the Gypsies in Israel’ [ha-‘amuta le-kidum ha-tso’anim be-yisra’el]. The Foundation is being backed by a left-wing Israeli party which is in opposition in the Jerusa-lem municipality, it carries a Hebrew, rather than Arabic, official title, and the title itself flags a connection to Israel, rather than to the West Bank, where the Doms live. At a time when the future of Jerusalem is about to be negotiated between Israeli and Palestinian authorities, this course taken by a number of young Doms might be interpreted as a statement concerning their own ethnic distinctness; it may however just as well be taken to reflect primarily short-term practical considerations, which seem to outweigh sensitivity to growing concerns about the long-term status of East Jerusalem and its inhabitants. Estimates put the number of Doms in Jerusalem at anywhere between 600-1000. Only members of the older generation are still fluent speakers of their ancestral language, which they refer to as dōm, dōmī, or dōmari,

the latter being the more archaic and now almost obsolete term. It is im-portant to distinguish between Domari as spoken in Jerusalem and else-where, and the in-group and secret vocabularies employed by various populations of commercial nomads in the Middle East. Those are some-times referred to as ‘Gypsy languages’, but they do not share the gram-matical structures of Domari. There has been some considerable histori-cal interface between Domari and such secret vocabularies, however, which reflects historical ties among itinerant populations of various ori-gins in the region. Domari influence can be found in the vocabularies of the Mıtrıp of Kurdistan (Benninghaus 1991), the Karači, Luti, and Kauli of Iran (Amanolahi & Norbeck 1975, Gobineau 1857), the Ghagar and Nawar of Egypt (Newbold 1856), as well as, perhaps most clearly, the

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Bahlawān of Sudan (Streck 1996: 290-303), whose secret vocabulary is derived almost entirely from Domari. The earliest documentation and discussion of the language spoken by the Doms – or Domari ‘proper’ – appeared in Pott’s (1844) monumental work on Romani, where he drew on a sample collected several decades earlier by Seetzen (and later published in a diary edited by Kruse in 1854). Further material was published by Pott in 1846, drawing on sec-ond-hand sources from Syria, followed by Newbold’s (1856) wordlists from northern Syria and from Baghdad, Paspati’s (1870) material from eastern Anatolia, Groome’s (1891) samples obtained in Beirut and Da-mascus, and Patkanoff’s (1907/1908) material, which appears to have originated from Azerbaijan. The first and so far unique comprehensive description of the Domari language, which includes a grammar, texts, and a glossary all based on fieldwork carried out in Jerusalem, was pub-lished by R. A. S. Macalister in a series of articles in this journal be-tween 1909-1913, which subsequently appeared in monograph form (Macalister 1914). Apart from two very brief samples of Syrian Domari that have been in private circulation in recent years,2 my own work on the speech of the same community in Jerusalem (Matras 1999) appears to be the first publication since Macalister that is based on recent empiri-cal research. The material for the present contribution stems from the same corpus of recordings, collected in Jerusalem between 1996 and 1999. The legends: context and content The two legends presented here were told to me by the grawara or Muk-htar of the Dom community of Jerusalem, Muḥammad Dīb Slīm, in

January 1999. The Mukhtar is the grandson of Ibrāhīm Slīm, who led the

2 The first was transcribed and analysed by Jane Nicholson (Austin), the other recorded by Marielle

Danbakli (Paris).


community in the early 20th century, while it was still nomadic, travel-ling between Jerusalem and other towns in the West Bank. After his death, Ibrāhīm Slīm was succeeded by his son, Abed Slīm, as Mukhtar. The community had by then settled in a tent encampment in Jerusalem, just north of Damascus Gate, which is where Macalister encountered them. Abed Slīm was able to prove his leadership skills during an event which took place sometime in the 1920s, when a fight broke out between Jews and Arabs at a feast at which Dom dancers from Jaffa were per-forming. Abed separated the two groups, and was praised for doing so by the British military governor of Jerusalem, Ronald Storrs, who awarded him an official document recognising his position as the Mukhtar of the Jerusalem Dom community. In the early 1940s, the Dom were suspected by the British military administration of hiding weapons used in the Palestinian resistance against the British rule, and their encampment was dissolved. They gradually began to find rented accommodation within the Walls of the Old City, in the Muslim Quarter, just north of Lions Gate and the Mosque compound or Ḥaram. Changing occupation patterns in the

community and a growing dependency on paid employment allowed them to do so. Abed Slīm, who held the position of Mukhtar, did not seek any other employment and was supported by members of his fam-ily. He died in December 1956, and was succeeded immediately by his son Muḥammad Dīb, then aged 23, who was elected Mukhtar by an as-

sembly of community elders. His election was recognised officially by the Jordanian authorities, who issued him with a letter of appointment in January 1957. There was however opposition to his election among some Doms, which triggered continuing rivalry and even led to a stab-bing incident of which he was the victim, in the mid 1960s. Following the Israeli occupation of June 1967, Muḥammad Dīb’s appointment as

Mukhtar was officially reaffirmed by the Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, in October 1968. A number of legends and biographical narratives told by Muḥammad

Dīb have already been published in Hebrew by Yaniv (1980). They in-

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clude, in an edited form, two stories that are also presented here: The first is described by Yaniv as the principal tradition among the Doms pertaining to their origin. It connects the Dom with the tribe of Banī Qēs, which was divided into two clans – Banī Rabīʕa, led by Klēb, and Banī Murra, led by Džassās. A feud broke out between the two clans during

the period of the Islamic conquests, as a result of which Džassās killed

Klēb. Klēb’s son (or in some versions, brother), Sālem ez-Zīr, then took revenge and killed Džassās. He also punished Džassās’s clan, Banī Murra, by ruling that they should remain nomadic entertainers, forbid-ding them to ride horses and allowing only the use of donkeys. The Doms descend from Banī Murra, who travelled first to India, then to various countries in the Middle East, some of them settling in Jerusalem. The second story tells about the Persian king Bahrām Gūr, who invited entertainers from India to settle in his kingdom. He gave them land and expected them to become farmers, but when they disappointed him and continued to make a living as dancers and musicians, he expelled them, ruling that they should remain nomads forever, as punishment. Both legends have the theme of ‘ancestral guilt’, which is common among peripatetic groups as an explanation of their origin and position in society (Casimir 1987).3 A similar variant of the legend of Banī Rabīʕa and Banī Murra is presented in Meyer (1994:1-4), who recorded

it from Doms in Damascus. Another version was recorded by Canova (1981) among the Nawar of Egypt, and a similar legend portraying ez-Zīr as the king who ordered the Gypsies into exile and nomadism is mentioned by Newbold (1856:291) in connection with the Helebi of Egypt. The story of Bahrām Gūr is told by the Persian poet Firdusi in his Shahname from the 11th century. The text describes how the Persian king invited a population of some 10,000 Indian musicians, called luri, in or

3 For Romani legends see for example Pickett & Agogino (1960), and see discussion in Casimir

(1987:378-380).


around 420 AD, to come to Persia and serve as official performers. After attempts to settle them failed, the Luri remained nomadic entertainers. The story receives historical confirmation in various Arabic and Persian chronicles, with at least one source, Ḥamza Iṣfahānī, pre-dating Firdusi

(Grierson 1887). The immigration of various northern Indian populations to the Persian Golf area during the reign of the very same Sassanide king Bahrām V, is rather well described by Byzantine historians (cf. Wink

1990: 156). A legend resembling the Bahrām Gūr story, which relates to the Luti peripatetics of Luristan, was recorded by Amanolahi & Norbeck (1975:3). The legend thus obviously has a well-established oral and written tra-dition in the Middle East, and is likely to be have some factual basis as well, though a clear connection between the Luri and today’s Dom, Rom, or Lom cannot be established. The story nonetheless dominates discussions of the origin of the Gypsies in popular literature, and one cannot exclude the possibility that it was adopted by the Jerusalem Dom community rather recently. In fact, while the legend of ez-Zīr and the two clans appears to be well-known to most if not all adult members of the community, it is not clear whether anyone other than the Mukhtar is at all familiar with the story of Bahrām Gūr.4 The legends as told by Muḥammad Dīb in Domari include several

modifications and mixtures of themes. Firstly, the names of the tribes are slightly altered, with Banī Qēs and Banī Murra figuring as the two rival clans, while Banī Rabīʕa is not mentioned at all. In Legend 1, the daugh-

ter of the Syrian King Tubba Ḥassān seeks revenge from Klēb, who had

killed her father. She has her servant smuggle a sheep with an infectious mange into Klēb’s grounds, hoping to inflict illness on his entire house-hold. The sheep however is killed by Klēb’s guards. She then turns to Džassās for help, thereby triggering the feud between the two clans,

4 An Israeli anthropologist, who had befriended the Mukhtar during the early 1970s, claimed to have

introduced the Mukhtar to the story of Bahrām Gūr (Yigal Tamir, personal communication, 1998).

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which ultimately leads to the expulsion of the Doms, the descendants of Džassās. Thus we have as additional themes the origin of the tribes in

Syria, and a woman who incites rivalry between the related clans. Note-worthy is the fact that the key line, where the Old Lady calls upon Džassās to kill Klēb, is presented as a rhyming verse in Arabic (Legend

1, Segment 28), indicating that the Domari version is likely to be adopted from Arabic, rather than vice versa. There are two possible con-clusions from this: The legend has either been adopted from non-Dom, Arabic-speaking peripatetics in the Near East, or its principal target audience is external, rather than interal (cf. Casimir 1987:376). Muḥammad Dīb’s narrative then has the Doms migrating to India, and

finally returning to the Near East with Saladin’s forces. The migration to India is necessary in order to reconcile the notion of an origin in a pre-Islamic Arab tribe, in Casimir’s (1987) terms the ‘original state’, before the infliction of punishment, with the well-established fact that the Doms speak an Indian language and so must have originated from India. Whether this testifies to a more recent layer of historical awareness, or whether we could be dealing with a contamination with the legend of Bahrām Gūr, remains unclear. The repeated reference to northern India in both Legends 1 and 2, as well as to the Indian language, suggests that there is indeed an attempt to accommodate information acquired more recently through indirect exposure to an external discussion context about the origin of the Gypsies, into the older and more traditional narra-tive, updating the latter into a more precise and reliable account. Legend 2 actually embeds the Bahrām Gūr story into the context of the legend of ez-Zīr. The narrative portrays the Doms initially as Arabs, whose connection to India is not original, but inflicted through their ex-pulsion from their original lands. This allows once again to reconcile the Indian theme with the notion that the Doms were once a self-contained Arab tribe. The tension between self-contained existence and a peripa-tetic economy, representing the conflict with mainstream sedentary populations, surfaces first in the idea that entertainment professions and nomadism were part of the punishment inflicted by ez-Zīr, and then in


the failed attempt by Bahrām Gūr to turn the Doms into farmers. It is then also addressed indirectly in the mentioning of agriculture in connec-tion with the settlement of Doms in Palestine. A further historical theme is the connection drawn between the arrival of the Doms, and the Saladin conquests. This might represent the community’s own historical recol-lection, but it could also be borrowed from the idea that peripatetics ar-rived in the region as camp-followers of invading Muslim armies (cf. de Goeje 1903).5 Likewise, the suggestion that the Doms might have been prisoners of Saladin’s armies, though inconsistent with the camp-follower theme, could be derived ultimately from similar suggestions in the literature, while supporting the overall line which portrays the Doms as reluctant nomads and migrants. In conclusion, it seems useful to relate the two legends as told by the Mukhtar, to Casimir’s (1987) universal model of the expression of the relation between transgression of norms and values, guilt, and punish-ment in peripatetic origin legends. Dominating Legend 1 (the story of the two tribes) is what Casimir calls the typical ‘transformation of the niche’ from the original state, characterised by independence (an Arab tribe in Syria), to the resulting state of economic dependency, nomadism, and dispersion. This transformation is the result of punishment inflicted on the group for the transgression of norms and values, in our case the mur-der of Klēb, orchestrated in the middle of a sports competition, in re-sponse to the request by the Old Lady. Guilt and shame, which accom-pany the punishment on Casimir’s model, are in this case derived from the tribe’s collective responsibility for the deeds of its leader. Legend 2 presents yet a second such transformation, taking the story of the two tribes as portrayed in Legend 1 as a point of departure. Here, the Doms are already nomads, that is, they are already in the ‘resulting state’. But

5 There is of course a gap of several centuries between the Islamic conquests to which De Goeje

(1903) refers, and which took place between the seventh and nineth centuries AD, and the Saladin

campaigns in the twelfth century.

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they are given the chance of promotion to a ‘high rank’ status of inde-pendence, through the generosity of the Persian king. Guilt and shame in this case are associated with their inability to make use of this offer and change their habits and lifestyle, which is expressed explicitly in the story (Legend 2/27). Punishment follows this admission of guilt. Fur-ther, secondary transformations between high rank/independence and nomadism/dependency are expressed when the Doms’ status as prison-ers, on the on hand, and their settlement as farmers, on the other, are ad-dressed. The language of the narratives: presentation and structure The two legends are the first Domari narratives to be published since the appearance of Macalister’s texts in 1909-1913 (and the monograph re-print of 1914). They are also the first published narratives in the lan-guage that are based on transcriptions of tape-recorded speech, and the first to appear in print with morphological glossing. Descriptions of the Domari language as spoken in Jerusalem appear in Macalister (1914) and in Matras (1999), and I will concentrate here on issues that directly concern the glossing conventions. The legends are presented here with minimal editing. The transcrip-tion contains repetitions, hesitations, repairs by the speaker, as well as Arabic insertions. Omitted were only participation signals by the hearer/interviewer (aha, mhm, etc.), and occasional translations into Arabic of entire utterances. The transcripts are divided into segments which represent content and intonational units. Arabic insertions are highlighted in Italics if they constitute phrases containing more than just one single item, and if it appears that the speaker had a choice of insert-ing indigenous items in their place. This may typically pertain to mor-phosyntactic rather than lexical structure; thus malik iš-šām ‘the King of Syria’ (Legend 1/8) is an Arabic possessive-genitive construction. The speaker could in principle have chosen an indigenous construction: mali-kos šāmaki (cf. malikos īrānaki ‘the King of Iran’, in Legend 2/22).


The transcripts include numerous Arabisms that are not highlighted, as they form an integral part of the Domari lexical or morphosyntactic structure. They include lexical borrowings from Arabic, prepositions, conjunctions, discourse particles, as well as items that carry Arabic in-flections, notably the auxiliaries kān ‘to be’, ṣār- ‘to begin’, xallī- ‘to al-

low/leave’, and bidd- ‘to want’, and the complementiser inn-. Arabic qal is used as an uninflected particle and is glossed ‘said’. The filler hay is glossed ‘this’, the filler hāda is glossed ‘that’. The Arabic definite article is glossed DEF and only appears in Arabic insertions. If an Arabic noun appears in the plural, it is glossed as an English plural (bisātīn ‘gar-dens’). Quite often, a Domari plural ending is added to Arabic plural formations; in such cases, the Domari ending is glossed PL (muzariʕīne

‘farmers.PL’). Domari has gender inflection in the singular, which is indicated as M

(masculine) and F (feminine). In the plural (PL), gender is neutralised. Gender/number inflection is indicated with demonstratives, which are glossed DEM. The frequent use of demonstratives in non-focused posi-tions is rendered in the English translation through the insertion of de-monstratives in square brackets. Forms of the 3rd person singular of past-tense verbs are also marked for gender, unless they are followed by a pronominal object clitic: širda ‘said.3SG.M = he said’, širdī ‘said.3SG.F = she said’, but mardosim ‘killed.3SG.1SG = he/she killed me’.

Person markers may refer to either one of two sets of concord mark-ers. The first is restricted to present-tense, imperfect, and subjunctive verbs and marks the subject. The second marks the subject of past-tense verbs, the pronominal object of verbs in any tense/mood, as well as the pronominal and genitive possessor of nouns (bāy-om ‘father.1SG = my father’, malik-os īrānaki ‘king.3SG Iran.F.ABL = the king of Iran’). With verbs, pronominal object clitics always follow subject concord markers: lak-am-r-i ‘see.1SG.2SG + tense marker = I see you’, laked-om-is ‘saw.1SG.3SG = I saw him/her’.

Nominal case inflection in Domari is layered (see Matras 1999:16-21). Layer I includes the default oblique case, and distinguishes gen-

12 Yaron Matras

der/number (nominative šōna ‘boy’, šōnī ‘girl’; oblique šōnas ‘boy’,

šōnya ‘girl’). It is generally followed by Layer II markers, which have

agglutinative structure and carry semantic case distinctions (šōnas-ke

‘for the boy’, šōnas-ki ‘from the boy’, etc.). Layer I is consequently indi-

cated in the glossing as a gender/number function, though only in the oblique, distinguishing M, F, PL, which are always followed by an indi-cation of Layer II markers (šōnaske ‘boy.M.BEN’). Layer II markers are

glossed by semantic function: ABL = ablative (also functioning as a general prepositional case and genitive), DAT = dative, LOC = locative, BEN = benefactive. The sociative case is nearly obsolete and does not appear in the transcripts. The accusative is zero-marked at the level of Layer II case marking, in other words, it relies on Layer I marking of a default oblique with no further semantic specifications. For the sake of consistency, such occurrences are glossed ACC, which represents zero Layer II marking (šōnas ‘boy.M.ACC’).

Possessive markers override Layer I gender/number marking, but are themselves sensitive to oblique positions. Their oblique forms however are not indicated in the glossing, but are taken for granted when followed by a Layer II marker: ʕašīr-os džassās-as-ki ‘clan.3SG Džassās.M.ABL

= the clan (nominative possessive) of Džassās (ablative)’, but ʕumurkeda

ʕašīr-is-ta džassāsaski ‘ordered.3SG.M clan.3SG.DAT Džassās.M.ABL

= he ordered the clan (dative possessive) of Džassās (ablative)’. Inani-

mate Arabic loans occasionally do not take Layer I endings: rumuḥ-ma

‘lance.LOC = with a lance’. In indigenous (=non-Arabic) person-inflected prepositions, case markers are not indictaed: abuske is glossed ‘to.3SG’, but is composed of *ab ‘to’, -us ‘3SG oblique pronominal clitic in possessive function’ and -ke ‘Benefactive Layer II case marker’. Verbs are glossed in the English present tense for the Domari present,

imperfect, and subjunctive, and in the English past for the Domari sim-ple past and perfect. The Domari present and simple past are treated as default tenses. The present however has an external morphological ter-


mination -i, which follows both subject concord markers and oblique pronominal clitics (dē-m-r-i ‘give.1SG.2SG + external tense = I give you’, lak-am-i ‘see.1SG + external tense = I see’). The subjunctive may either be morphologically simple (lakam ‘I [should] see’) , or it can be indicated by a subjunctive morph (mar-š-ar ‘die.SUBJ.3SG = he [should] die’, compare mari ‘he dies’), and is consequently glossed SUBJ throughout. The imperfect has an external ending -a which is added to the present-tense form, and is glossed IMP. The perfect has an external ending -i which is added to the past-tense form, and is glossed PERF. The pluperfect does not appear in the transcript. Occasionally, number agreement is missing with past-tense verbs.

Domari allows non-verbal predications: tillos banī murra nāmos džassās ‘the leader of Banī Murra, his name [is/was] Džassās’. It also

has a predicative device, which Macalister (1914) had termed ‘predica-tive suffix’, and which allows to construct non-verbal existential predica-tions. Predicative markers are glossed PRED. They are sensitive to the phonological form of the preceding syllable, taking the form -ēk follow-ing vowel endings in -a, -k following endings in glottalised -a’, -ik fol-lowing vowel endings in -i, and -i following consonantal endings. There are separate markers for the plural, namely -ēni following vowels and -ni following consonants; those are glossed PL.PRED. The predicative markers can attach to nominative nouns (wudi-k ‘old.lady.PRED’), to case-inflected nouns (pišt-is-m-ēk ‘back.3SG.LOC.PRED = ‘in his back’), to adjectives (till-ēk ‘it is big’), or to verbs, to form converbs, i.e. gerunds or participles (ktibkad-ēk ‘wrote.PRED = written’). Predicative markers are frequently employed in presentative constructions, as well as, in the absence of Layer I oblique marking, to indicate the accusative of some inanimate Arabic loans (šardeya romḥi ‘hide.3SG.IMP

lance.PRED = he was hiding the lance’).

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List of gloss abbreviations 1SG 1st person singular (subject or object concord on verb; possessive; pronoun)

2PL 2nd person plural (subject or object concord on verb; possessive; pronoun)

2SG 2nd person singular (subject or object concord on verb; possessive; pro-noun)

3PL 3rd person plural (subject or object concord on verb; possessive; pronoun)

3SG 3rd person singular (subject or object concord on verb; possessive; pronoun) ABL ablative (Layer II case ending) ACC accusative (Layer I oblique + Layer II zero case ending) BEN benefactive (Layer II case ending) COMP complementiser (of Arabic origin) COP enclitic copula DAT dative (Layer II case ending) DEF definite article (Arabic insertions) DEM demonstrative pronoun

F feminine (3rd person past tense; demonstrative; Layer I oblique case inflection) IMP imperfect tense ending INDEF indefinite article INT interjection LOC locative (Layer II case ending)

M masculine singular (3rd person past tense; demonstrative; Layer I oblique case inflection)

NEG negation marker PART particle PERF perfect tense ending PL plural (demonstrative; Layer I oblique case inflection) PRED predicative marker REL relativiser (Arabic origin) SUBJ subjunctive (verb mood)


Legend 1 1) aṣlos dōmankī, ʕa-zamān ‘awwal,

origin.3SG dom.PL.ABL in-time early

The origin of the Doms, early on,

2) ašti di qabīle ʕīšrēda kānū fi bilād/

there.is two tribe.PL live.3PL.IMP were.3PL in land

dēyisma šāmaki. town.3SG.LOC Syria.ABL

There were two tribes, they used to live in the land of/ in a Syrian town.

3) nāmosan banī qēs ū banī murra. name.3PL Banī Qes and Banī Murra

Their name was Banī Qes and Banī Murra. 4) tillos banī qēs nāmos klēb. big.3SG Banī Qes name.3SG Klēb

The leader of Banī Qes, his name was Klēb. 5) tillos banī murra nāmos džassās. big.3SG Banī Murra name.3SG Džassās

The leader of Banī Murra, his name was Džassās.

6) w-ehe dīne māmun putrēnī. and.DEM.PL two uncle son.PL.PRED

And those two were cousins. 7) ašti ikaki wudik, bēnos tubba ḥassān.

there.is one.F old.ladyPRED daughter.3SG Tubba Hassan

There was an old lady, the daughter of Tubba Hassān.

16 Yaron Matras

8) lamma mardos klēb, marda tubba ḥassān malik š-šām,

when killed.3SG.3SG Klēb killed.3SG.M Tubba Hassan King of Syria

When Klēb killed him, he killed Tubba Hassān the King of Syria,

9) biddhā intaqimhōšar/ stadhōšar tāros

want.3SG.F take.revenge.SUBJ.3SG claim.SUBJ.3SG revenge.3SG

min dōmanki, yaʕnī min ehe dīne qabīlanki.

from Dom.PL.ABL that.is from Dem.PL two tribe.PL.ABL

She wanted to take revenge/ to take revenge from the Doms, that is, from those two tribes.

10) ērī ʕala banī murra ʕa džassāsaski, wāšīš

came.3SG.F to Banī Murra to Džassās..M.ABL with.3SG

naʕdžēk ‘ažrabi

sheep.PRED mangy.PRED

She came to Banī Murra, to Džassās, and with her was a mangy

sheep.

11) w-īhī naʕdža tirdī/ tirdī abuske aha/ zayy

and.DEM.F sheep put.3SG.F put.3SG.F on.3SG.BEN DEM.M like

ʕuṭūr wa-hāda, ʕaṭar wa-hāda

perfumes and-that perfume and-that

And this sheep she put/ she put on her this/ like perfumes and all that, perfume and all that.

12) ū širdī absanke īhī naʕdža qal īhī min assāshā

and said.3SG.F on.3PL.BEN DEM.F sheep said DEM.F from origin.F

min in-nāqiz in-nabi ṣāleḥ

from DEF.redeemer DEF.prophet Saleh

And she said to them: this sheep, she said, is descended from the redeemer the Prophet Saleh.


13) ašti nkīs ēkak dusarēk yaʕni ḥdimkari īhī / wudi.6

there.is at.3SG one.M black.PRED that.is serves.3SG DEM.F old.lady

She had a black servant, [who was] serving this/ old lady. 14) širdī īhī wudi hayke/ dusaraske hayyos,

said.3SG DEM.F old.lady this.BEN black.M.BEN this.3SG

[This] lady said to/ to this servant of hers,

15) qal par īhī naʕdžē, ū dža bisātīnesma

said take DEM.F sheep.F.ACC and go gardens.3SG.LOC

klēbaski, xallī rʕikar hundar.

Klēb.M.ABL let.3SG graze.SUBJ.3SG there

She said: take this sheep, and go to the gardens of Klēb, let her

graze there.

16) aha dusara parda īhī naʕdžē ū bandos,

DEM.M black took.3SG.M DEM.F sheep.F.ACC and tied.3SG.3SG

tirdos hayma/ bustānisma klēbaski. put.3SG.3SG this.LOC garden.3SG.LOC Klēb.M.ABL

[This] servant took [this] sheep and tied her, he put her in Klēb’s garden.

17) ū bustāni tillēk.

and garden.PRED big.PRED

And it was a big garden.

6 The repair appears to neutralise case marking, and the form should normally be widya

‘old.lady.F.ACC’.

18 Yaron Matras

18) ṣārat īhī naʕdža qaṭifkari min aha šadžarki7

began.3SG.F DEM.F sheep picks.3SG from DEM.M tree.ABL

ū qāri and eats.3SG

[This] sheep began to pick from [this] tree and to eat.

19) ḥurrāṣīnes aha bustānki lakeda īhī naʕdžē,

guards.3SG DEM.M garden.ABL saw.3SG.M DEM.F sheep.ACC

fērendis mardedis. beat.3PL.3SG killed.3PL.3SG

[This] garden’s guards saw [this] sheep, they beat her and killed

her.

20) dusara hayyos widyaki ēra širda

black this.3SG old.lady.F.ABL came.3SG.M told.3SG.M

widyake. old.lady.F.BEN

The old lady’s servant came and told the old lady.

21) ṣārat rōwari.

began.3SG.F cry.3SG

She began to cry.

22) ēra abuske klēb:8 karwe wudi, rowēk? came.3SG.M 3SG.BEN Klēb INT old.lady cry.2SG

7 Note the absence of Layer I marking here, as in other inanimate Arabic loans.

8 This is a mix-up, and the speaker actually means Džassās.


Klēb [= Džassās] came to her: what is it, old lady, [why] are you

crying?

23) qal: lakedori, hurrāṣīnes bustāniski hayki

said saw.2SG.PERF guards.3SG garden.3SG.ABL this.ABL

klēbaski marde naʕdžim illi īhī Klēb.M.ABL killed.3PL sheep.1SG REL DEM.F

assāshā min naʕdžāt in-nabi ṣāleḥ

origin.3SG.F from sheep.PL DEF.prophet Saleh

She said: Did you see, this/ the guards of Klēb’s garden killed my

sheep, who is descended from the sheep flock of the Prophet

Saleh.

24) šari džassās abuske: na zʕilhōši atu wudi.

say.3SG Džassās 3SG.BEN NEG anger.SUBJ.2SG 2SG old.lady

Džassās says to her: Don’t be angry, old lady.

25) ama dēmri badālis ʕašrīn naʕdža ū ṭayyibkami

1SG give.1SG.2SG instead.3SG twenty sheep and improve.1SG

xātror. Mood.2SG

I shall give you twenty sheep in its place, and I shall cheer you up.

26) qal: la’, ama naqbilome’.

said no 1SG NEG.accept.1SG.NEG

She said: No, I don’t accept.

20 Yaron Matras

27) yā imma naʕdžom gardohori, yā imma marēk amake

either sheep.1SG live.3SG either kill.2SG 1SG.BEN

klēbas, yā imma bardika ḥižrom ndžūmi.

Klēb.M.ACC either fill.SUBJ.2SG lap.1SG stars.PRED

Either my sheep shall live, or you shall kill Klēb for me, or else

fill my lap with stars.

28) yaʕni bi-l-ʕarabī: yā naʕdžatī tgūm, yā bitmalli ḥižrī

that.is in.DEF.Arabic either sheep.1SG stand.3SG.F or fill.2SG lap.1SG

ndžūm, yā imma rās klēb bi-damm yḥūm

star.PL or else head Klēb in-blood turn.3SG.M

That is, in Arabic: Either my sheep shall rise, or you will fill my

lap with stars, or else Klēb’s head shall float in blood.

29) džassās qal: ama gardikaram nāʕdžor insakame’.

Dzassas said 1SG revive.SUBJ.1SG sheep.2SG NEG.can.1SG.NEG

Džassās said: I cannot revive your sheep.

30) ila ɣēr xuya lamma gardikaris aburke.

but without God when revive.3SG.3SG 2SG.BEN

Only God can revive her for you.

31) ū bardikaram ḥižror ndžūmi qal hāda ndžūm

and fill.SUBJ.1SG lap.2SG starS.PRED said that star.PL

hāda ṣaʕb ʕalayy,

that difficult on.1SG

And to fill your lap with stars, he said, these stars that’s difficult

for me.


32) amma-n iza biddek rās klēb marḥabābek!

but if want.2SG.F head Klēb welcome.in.2SG.F

But if you want Klēb’s head, you are welcome to it!

33) dīsak min dīsanki ṣār klēb ū džassās kēlandi

day.INDEF from day.PL.ABL began.3SG.M Klēb and Džassās ride.3PL

hayta goryanta, ṣābiqhondi.

this.DAT horse.PL.DAT compete.3PL

One day Klēb and Džassās went out to ride/ horses, they had a

race.

34) goryos klēbaski ṣbuqhori goryos hayki, ka/ džassāsaski.

horse.3SG Klēb.M.ABL precede.3SG horse.3SG this.ABL Džassās.M.ABL

Klēb’s horse arrives before/ Džassās’s horse.

35) džassās šardeya romḥi axar ʕabāyiski ū uhu

Džassās hide.3SG.IMP lance.PRED beneath gown.3SG.ABL and DEM.M

agrīsi aha klēb, fēmēs rumuḥma,

in.front.3SG.PRED DEM.M Klēb hit.PRED.3SG lance.LOC

ila pištismēk, but back.3SG.LOC.PRED

Džassās was hiding a lance beneath his gown, and just as the other

one stood in front of him, [this] Klēb, striking him with the lance,

directly in his back,

36) klibra.

fell.3SG.M

22 Yaron Matras

He collapsed.

37) ṣār parari min nhīriski aha klēb qabil mā

began.3SG.M take.3SG from blood.3SG.ABL DEM.M Klēb before COMP

maršar. die.SUBJ.3SG

Klēb started to take from his own blood, before he died.

38) ū ktibkari džamʕatiske ahaliske, ehe banī qēs,

and write.3SG community.3SG.BEN people.3SG.BEN DEM.PL Banī Qes

inni džassās ɣudurkedosim ū mardosim. COMP Džassās betrayed.3SG.1SG and killed.3SG.1SG

And [in it] he wrote to his community of people, [these] Banī Qes,

[saying] that Džassās betrayed me and killed me.

39) ū ‘ūʕa sāmiḥkarassanni, ū maras qabīlos ehe

and beware forgive.2PL.3PL and kill.SUBJ2PL tribe.3SG DEM.PL

banī murra. Banī Murra

And beware not to forgive them, and kill his tribe, [those] Banī Murra.

40) ēre ahalos klēbaski,

came.3PL people.3SG Klēb.M.ABL

Klēb’s people arrived,

41) lakede klēbas, rumuḥ pištismēk ū pandži nazaʕkari.

saw.3PL Klēb.M.ACC lance back.3SG.LOC.PRED and 3SG die.3SG


They found Klēb, a lance in his back, and he is dying.

42) ū ktibkadēk balaṭēṭa inni džassās mardosim.

and wrote.PRED foor.F.DAT COMP Džassās killed.3SG.1SM

And he had written on the floorstones that Džassās killed me.

43) gara dfinkeda klēbas ū ehra ḥarb bēn

went.3SG.M burried.3SG.M Klēb.M.ACC and became.3SG war between

banī qēs ū bēn banī murra. Banī Qes and between Banī Murra

They went and burried Klēb, and war broke out between Banī Qes

and Banī Murra.

44) sabʕa snīn ḥarb bēnatīsanni, sabʕa snīn manda fēyiš

seven years war between.3PL.PRED seven years stayed.3SG.M war

bēnatīsan. between.3PL

Seven years there was war between them, seven years the war

continued between them.

45) bi-l-’āxir putros klēbaski nāmosi džalu,

at.DEF.end son.3SG Klēb.M.ABL name.3SG.PRED Džalu

ū sālem ez-zīr aha bāros klēbaski. and Salem ez-Zir DEM.M brother.3SG Klēb.M.ABL

In the end, Klēb’s son, his name was Džalu, and Salem ez-Zir was

the brother of Klēb.

24 Yaron Matras

46) gara mīnda ka/ džassāsas ū mardedis. went.3SG.M grabbed.3SG.M Džassās and killed.3PL.3SG

They went and caught Džassās and they killed him.

47) džamaʕtēs džassāsaski ehe banī murra,

people.3SG Džassās.M.ABL DEM.PL Banī Murra

‘umurkeda atnīs aha sālem ez-zīr, xal: ordered.3SG.M on.3SG DEM.M Salem ez-Zir said

As for Džassās’s people, [these] Banī Murra, [this] Salem ez-Zir

decreed, he said:

48) itme mamnūʕi hōšas hindar.

2PL forbidden.PRED be.SUBJ.2PL here

You are not allowed to remain here.

49) lāzem džas xalāmma hōšas.

must go.SUBJ.2PL wilderness.PL.LOC be.SUBJ.2PL

You must go and live in the wilderness.

50) lāzem lamma itme rawasi rawas bi-ʕizz iš-šōb,

must when 2PL travel.2PL travel.SUBJ.2PL in.strength DEF.heat

w-id-dinya agi and.DEF.weather fire.PRED

When you travel, you must travel in the hottest time, when the

weather is fire-hot.

51) ū mamnūʕi itme qolas goryanta.

and forbidden.PRED 2PL ride.SUBJ.2PL horse.PL.DAT


And you may not ride horses.

52) lāzem itme qolas bass ehe qaran.

must 2PL ride.SUBJ.2PL only DEM.PL donkey.PL.ACC

You must only ride [these] donkeys.

53) mamnūʕi arbaʕ-xamse buyūt skunnhōšas maʕ baʕḍ.

forbidden.PRED four-five houses live.SUBJ.2PL together

You are not allowed to live together, four-five households.

54) lāzem tkūn itme mišāṭṭaṭhresi

must be.SUBJ.3SG.F 2PL disperesed.COP.2PL

You must remain dispersed.

55) ū itme lāzem maṣīroran hōšas inni bass

and 2PL must destiny.2PL be.SUBJ.2PL COMP only

ɣannikaras ū našīšas.

sing.SUBJ.2PL and dance.SUBJ.2PL

And your destiny is that you shall only sing and dance.

56) ahak ʕīšatoran itme

DEM.M.PRED life.2PL 2PL

Thus is to be your life.

57) ehe dōme itšaṭiṭre ū krēn gare tirde?

DEM.PL Dom.PL dispersed.3PL and where went.3PL settled.3PL

fī šamāl l-hind. in north DEF.India

26 Yaron Matras

These Doms dispersed and where did they go and settle? In north-

ern India.

58) min uhu waxtaski, mande fi šamāl l-hind.

from DEM.M time.M.ABL stayed.3PL in north DEF.India

From that time on, the remained in northern India.

59) tʕallimre l-luɣa l-hindiyye,

learned.3PL DEF.language DEF.Indian

They learned the Indian language.

60) ila qisem/ qismak minšīsan lamma zhurahra

but part part.INDEF from.3PL when appeared.3SG.M

ṣallaḥ ed-dīn ’ayyūbī ū ēre ʕala l-ʕirāq

Salah ed-Din Ayyubi and came.3PL to DEF.Irag

ū ʕala š-šām,

and to DEF.Syria

But part/ one part of them, when Saladin Ayyubi appeared and

came to Iraq and to Syria,

61) ū ēre ʕala falasṭīn ū ṣārū zaraʕkandi ū hāda,

and came.3PL to Palestine and started.3PL farm.3PL and that

And they came to Palestine and started to engage in farming and

so on,

62) ū mande hindar dōme.

and stayed.3PL here Dom.PL

And the Doms have remained here ever since.


Legend 2 1) aṣlos dōmankī min eh/ qabīlet idž-džassās ū klēb.

origin.3SG Dom.PL.ABL from tribe DEF.Džassās and Klēb

The origin of the Doms is from/ the tribe of Džassās and Klēb.

2) lamma džassās ɣudurkeda klēbas ū marda

when Džassās betrayed.3SG.M Klēb.M.ACC and killed.3SG.M

klēbas, Klēb.M.ACC

When Džassās betrayed Klēb and killed Klēb,

3) putros džassāsaski/ putros hayki/ klēbaski ēra

son.3SG Džassās.M.ABL son.3SG this.ABL Klēb.M.ABL came.3SG.M

marda džassāsas.

killed.3SG.M Dzassas.M.ACC

The son of Džassās/ the son of this/ of Klēb came and killed

Džassās.

4) džassās kān aha tillos banī murra.

Džassās was.3SG DEM.M big.3SG Banī Murra

Džassās was the leader of Banī Murra.

5) banī-murra illi hāy/ ehe dōme yaʕnī

Banī Murra REL this DEM.PL Dom.PL that.is

Banī Murra which is the/ those are the Doms.

28 Yaron Matras

6) banī murra yaʕnī bi-l’āxer laqabosan yaʕni dōmahre.

Banī Murra that.is in.DEF.end name.3PL that.is Dom.became.3PL

Banī Murra, that is, in the end they were called, that is, they be-

came the Doms.

7) putros klēbaski gara marda džassāsas ū

son.3SG Klēb.M.ABL went.3SG.M killed.3SG.M Džassās.M.ACC and

ʕumurkeda ʕašīrista džassāsaski inni mamnūʕi ordered.3SG.M clan.3SG.DAT Džassās.M.ABL COMP forbidden.PRED

qilšad goryanta. ride.SUBJ.3PL horse.PL.DAT

The son of Klēb went and killed Džassās and ordered that

Džassās’s clan should not be allowed to ride horses.

8) ū da’iman xallīhum barāriyamma, skunnhōšad

and always leave.3PL wilderness.PL.LOC live.SUBJ.3PL

barariyamma. wilderness.PL.LOC

And [that] they should always stay in the wilderness, live in the

wilderness.

9) ū ʕīšatosan hōšad na/ našiš.

and life.3PL be.SUBJ.3PL dance

And [as for] their way of life, they should be/ [it should consist of]

dancing.


10) ɣannīkad ū našīšad ū-hāda yaʕnī . sing.SUBJ.3PL and dance.SUBJ.3PL and.that that.is

They should sing and dance and so on.

11) ū gare skunnahre fi šamāl l-hind.

and went.3PL lived.3PL in north DEF.India

And they went to live in northern India.

12) ašti ēkaki maliki fi īrān nāmos bahrām gūr.

is one.M king.PRED in Iran name.3SG Bahram Gur

There was a king in Iran, his name was Bahram Gur.

13) snari dōmanṭa.

hear.3SG Dom.PL.DAT

He heard about the Doms.

14) pandžī ḥibbra biddō lākar dōman yaʕnī

3SG wished.3SG.M want.3SG.M see.SUBJ.3SG Dom.PL.ACC that.is

kīk e/ ʕīšātos dōmanki.

how life.3SG Dom.PL.ABL

He wanted to see the Doms, that is, how/ the Doms’ life [was

like].

15) ktibkeda kitābak la ḥākmaske tabaʕ šamāl l-hind.

wrote.3SG.M letter.INDEF to governer.M.BEN of north DEF.India

He wrote a letter to the governor of northern India.

30 Yaron Matras

16) mangida mišīs inni nēr abuske min‘akam asked.3SG.M from.3SG COMP send.SUBJ.3SG to.3SG several

ʕēlan min dōmanki.

family.PL.ACC from Dom.PL.ABL

He asked him to send him several Dom families.

17) ḥākmos šamāl l-hind nērda ḥawālī arbaʕ mīt ʕēle

governor.3SG north DEF.India sent.3SG.M around four hundred family

min dōmankī, from Dom.PL.ABL

The governor of northern India sent some four hundred Dom

families.

18) tirdosan ehe marākbamma ū gare ʕala īrān.

put.3SG.3PL DEM.PL boats.PL.LOC and went.3PL to Iran

He put them on [those] boats and they went to Iran.

19) malakos aha īrān gara istaqbillosan,

kind.3SG DEM.M Iran went.3SG.M welcomed.3SG.3PL

The King of Iran went and welcomed them.

20) ū ṭosan bītak, ū ṭa la kull kuri

and gave.3SG.3PL land.INDEF und gave.3SG.M to every house

goryak, qameḥ, ū bakarak.

horse.INDEF flour and sheep.INDEF

And he gave them land, and he gave every family a horse, some

flour, and a sheep.


21) ‘assās innhom džad kara/ yaʕnī hōšad zayy

so that go.SUBJ.3PL do that.is be.SUBJ.3PL like

muzariʕīne, zirāʕkarad, ḥṣudkarad hāda

farmers.PL sow.SUBJ.3PL harvest.SUBJ.3PL that

In order that they go and do/ that is/ become like farmers, sow and

harvest and so on.

22) ɣēbra atnīsan džumʕa ēra mitxaffik

stayed.away.3SG.M on.3PL week came.3SG.M disguised.PRED

malikos īrānaki bahrām gūr. king.3SG Iran.F.ABL Bahram Gur

He was absent for a week, and he came disguised, the King of

Iran, Bahram Gur.

23) ēra lakeda kull kuri eh/ aha ʕazifōsēk ehe

came.3SGM. saw.3SG.M every house DEM.M play.3SG.PRED DEM.PL

ɣananiyankī ū rabbābēk ū hāda ū ehe našyandi

song.PL.ABL and play.rabbab.PRED and that and DEM.PL dance.3PL

ū hāda. and that

He came and saw every family eh/ this one is playing [those]

songs and playing the rabbab and so on and the others are dancing

and so on.

24) qal ya masaxxame kīyyik/ kiyyik aha li kardesis?

said oh poor.PL what.PRED what.PRED DEM.M REL did.2PL.3SG

He said: oh you poor things, what is it that you’ve done?

32 Yaron Matras

25) ama tōmran innī eh/ gēsu, kiyāsis gēsuki ū/ ū eh/

1SG gave.1SG.2PL COMP wheat sacks.3SG wheat.ABL and and

ū gōrwankī ʕa’assās innī zirāʕkaras ū ḥṣudkaras

and bulls.ABL on.basis COMP sow.SUBJ.2PL and harvest.SUBJ.2PL

ū kate-ta? where.PART

I gave you/ so that eh/ wheat, sacks of wheat and/ and eh/ and

bulls so that you should sow and harvest, and where is it all?

26) kate gōrwe, kate gēsu ū illī tōmis abranke?

where bull.PL where wheat and REL gave.1SG.3SG to.2PL

Where are the bulls, where is the wheat and all that I have given

you?

27) qal: yā sīdna iḥna bitlaʕiš fi-idnā zirāʕ/ zirāʕkaran

said oh lord.1PL 1PL emerge.NEG in.hand.1PL farming farm.SUBJ.1PL

wala illi sanaʕōman da’iman raqs ū ɣanāk

however REL trade.1PL always dance and song.PRED

They said: oh lord, we are not able to farm/ to farm, our only trade

is always dancing and singing.

28) malik zʕilahra minšīsan ū pišnawidōsan

king anger.3SG.M from.3PL and expelled.3SG.3PL

The King became angry with them and he expelled them.

29) gare ehe dōme skunnahre knēn? fī el-mōsel, illī

went.3PL DEM.PL Dom.PL lived.3PL where in DEF.Mosul REL


fīl-ʕīrāq hādī. in.DEF.Iraq DEM.F

Those Doms went and where did they settle? In Mosul, the one

that is in Iraq.

30) lamma zhurahra ṣalaḥ ed-dīn l-ayyūbī,

when appeared.3SG.M Salah ed-Din l-Ayyubi

When Saladin el-Ayyubi appeared,

31) ū parda giš dēyan,

and took.3SG.M all town.PL.ACC

And conquered all the towns,

32) ū wṣil ʕa-l-ʕīrāq, ū l-mōsil, ū iḥtallahra

and arrived.3SG.M to DEF.Iraq and DEF.Mosul and conquered.3SG.M

l-mōsil wi-l-ʕīrāq ū hāda,

DEF.Mosul and.DEF.Iraq and that

And he arrived in Iraq, and in Mosul, and he conquered Mosul

and Iraq and so on.

33) parda min‘akam ʕēla min dōmankī yusare

took.3SG.M several family from Dom.PL.ABL prisoners.PL

He took several Dom families prisoner.

34) ū zḥifre ʕala sūrīyya ū lubnān ū falasṭīn ū hāda.

and escaped.3PL to Syria and Lebanon and Palestine and that

And they escaped to Syria and Lebanon and Palestine and so on.

34 Yaron Matras

35) ehe dōme illi pardosan yusare istawṭunahre

DEM.PL Dom.PL REL took.3SG.3PL prisoners.PL settled.3PL

hindar hayma fī falasṭin

here this.LOC in Palestine

Those Doms whom he took prisoner settled here in this/ in Pales-

tine.

36) ‘iši skunnahre hayma fī ʕammān ū fī sūrīyya ū fī lubnān

something lived.3PL this.LOC in Amman and in Syria and in Leba-

non

ū hāda ū ‘išī bi ɣazzē ū hāda twaṭṭanahre hindar.

and this and something in Gaza and that settled.3PL here

Some [went to] live in/ in Amman and in Syria and in Lebanon

and so on and some in Gaza and so on, they settled here.

37) yaʕnī min ayyām ṣalaḥ id-dīn dōme twādžidre dēyamma hindar.

that.is from days Salah ed-Din Dom.PL existed.3PL town.PL.LOC here

That is, since the days of Saladin the Doms have lived here in

these towns.


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